French President François Hollande has thrown his support behind a Turkish proposal to create a buffer zone on its border with Syria to protect displaced people, his office announced on Wednesday.

Hollande backed the idea following a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in the day.

“(The president) insisted on the need to avoid massacres in the north of Syria. He gave his support to the idea proposed by President Erdogan to create a buffer zone between Syria and Turkey to host and protect displaced people,” read a statement from Hollande’s office.

It added that the two countries also agreed on the need to give more support to the moderate Syrian opposition to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State group (IS), also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Militants from the IS group are currently battling Kurdish fighters in the strategic Syrian town of Kobane, which lies on the border with Turkey. On Monday, a black Islamic State flag was seen flying on the eastern edge of the town.